It is pigments synthesized by a plant which produce the flower colour of plants.
As is known, there is a great demand for plants with new flower colours. Hitherto it has been attempted to meet this demand by cross-breeding to produce plants with new flower colours. However, this "classical" plant breeding technique was limited by the boundaries of the genetic compatibility of the various plant species used for cross-breeding.
For example, it was not possible to use these methods to breed brick red petunias (Petunia hybrida), because the genetic information for the key enzyme of the synthesis pathway of the corresponding pigment does not occur in petunia species.
This genetic information cannot be cross-bred into Petunia hybrida from other plant species in which it is found, e.g. from maize (Zea mays) or the snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus). Petunia hybrida and Zea mays or Antirrhinum majus are genetically incompatible.
It was also the prevailing opinion in the prior art that even if someone did succeed in inserting genes from monocotyle-donous plants like Zea mays into dicotyledonous plants like Petunia hybrida, the genes would then no longer be active. These difficulties meant that it has so far only been possible to meet the demand for plants with new flower colours on a limited scale.